When COVID-19 abruptly entered our lives in 2020, many offices had to shut their doors to their employees and working from home soon became the norm. For those first few weeks, months even, working from home felt like a novelty. We were never too far away from our usual routine, and we were making the most of those laid back mornings in anticipation of returning to our commute and the office as soon as possible.
Little did we know, we were in it for the long haul, and we weren’t necessarily prepared! Now, we’ve had plenty of practice, and you might have even adjusted to a routine that works perfectly for you.
Working from home
Many offices have since decided to keep an element of working from home or switch to a completely remote working system, which is an excellent opportunity to support your work/life balance.
However, if you feel like you never quite perfected your routine, you never had that motivation in the morning to get up and go, or you’ve picked up some bad habits (like working the first couple of hours in bed!), this article is designed to help you find the perfect balance, and stay happy and healthy whilst working from home. There’s no reason why working from home can’t be a great change, so we want to help you make the most of it and enjoy your ‘work time’ and ‘home time’.
How to work from home effectively
Here are some simple tips and advice on how to work from home effectively.
Do something productive in your commuter hour
First thing’s first, you’ve no longer got your commute! Or, you’ve got a very short one - from upstairs to your downstairs office desk but, let’s not count that one. The main thing to focus on is that you’ve won yourself some time back in the morning that you’d usually spend on a train/in the car/on a bus or walking.
As tempting as it is to hit snooze for that extra hour, instead, maintain your same alarm time and do something productive and make the most out of this spare time. Do something you otherwise wouldn’t have had time to do. We’ve popped some suggestions below:
- Meditate
- Read a book
- Learn new skills through an online course
- Do some exercise such as yoga or go for a jog
- Listen to a podcast
Not only will this help you wake up and feel more productive about your day, but you’re managing to fit something else that you enjoy into your day that you otherwise wouldn’t have done.
Set yourself a cut-off time
This one may sound strange. And, we’re under no illusion that some days you may need to work a little longer than the time you’d hoped but, generally, setting yourself a cut-off time when working from home, and sticking to it, is a good idea.
When you’re in your office, other people will start getting up and heading of, and you’ll often use this as an indication for when to leave. But, when you’re at home, it’s just you. No one is signalling to you when to finish and go home - you’re already there. So, it’s important to set yourself boundaries and know when to stop. Your ‘home time’ after work is still just as important.
Create your workspace
When you work in an office or an out-of-home environment, you have a designated space to work from. You may not have an office room and a specific area where you like when working from home, but setting one up could be hugely beneficial.
If you don’t have a workspace, it’s too easy to stay in bed for the first few hours or slump on the sofa. Both of these aren’t good for your posture, and they don’t encourage you to differentiate between your ‘relaxed space’ and your ‘workspace’. As a result, the two areas become combined, making it difficult to switch off when you finish work because you’re still in the same environment. By setting up a comfortable office chair at your desk, you’re sticking to that usual routine more and getting out of the comforts of your own home.
About Continuing Professional Development
We hope this brief article about how to stay happy and healthy whilst work from home was helpful. To find out more about Continuing Professional Development please visit our CPD Explained page. If you are looking for courses to study whilst working from home please visit our CPD Industry Hub to find a whole range of learning activities available on different subjects from across our specialist CPD providers.
